FIA opens applications for 2011, and may punish USF1

Following a meeting of the World Motor Sports Council in Sakhir, Bahrain today, the FIA has decided to open for applications to be the 13th team in the 2011 championship.

As well as this, it has been decided that there will be a reserve team, just in case the new team cannot compete or an existing one drops out. Seems like they’re trying to make sure this year’s mistakes don’t happen again. Some of the unsuccessful teams to apply last year were Prodrive, Lola, Epsilon Euskadi, N.Technology and Stefan Grand Prix, nearly all of which shouls consider reapplying.

Also, the FIA has stated that they may decide to punish USF1 for not being able to compete in F1 this year. Their statement reads as follows:

"With regard to the USF1 team’s non-participation in the 2010 championship,
the World Council mandated the FIA President, in full compliance with the
new code of practice for disciplinary matters, to take forward the most
appropriate action."

Good choice. USF1 was badly run and set up, and should be shot for embarrassing the F1 world with their failures. A massive fine should do the trick.